The Massachusetts "consent decree" tells the behind-the-scenes story of how the negative information about Facebook was shared with some investors and not others. It also shines a light on many aspects of the IPO process that aren't well understood:

The story emphasizes just how big an information advantage sophisticated investors have over small investors.

It makes a mockery of the fiction that investing is "a level playing field."

The investigation also reveals that some IPO rules should be changed immediately: All investors should get all relevant information at the same time.

1. That's just the tip of the iceberg

as to how they screw the small investor. Another regularly used tactic is to unload the junk their big institutional investors want to get rid of onto small unsuspecting buyers. Every morning, in every brokerage firm across the nation, they broadcast the stocks they are pushing and they do it in such a way that the brand new brokers, many kids fresh out of college, don't figure out that it is crap they are pushing onto their friends, family members and new clients. It is the second most despicable industry in the world...behind only those who sexually exploit children.